Atletico Madrid lost 1-0 to Alaves this afternoon at Estadio Mendizorroza in La Liga. It’s the defending champions’ first defeat of the new season and a worrying result given how rampant their city rivals Real Madrid have been so far this term.
Victor Laguardia scored the decisive goal in the fourth minute to give Alaves their first points of the season and condemn Diego Simeone’s men to defeat. Had they won they would have leap-frogged Madrid, but instead leave themselves open to being overhauled by both Real Sociedad and Sevilla this weekend. The win leaves Alaves 19th, three points clear of Getafe in 20th.
Atleti had gone behind in 3 of their first 6 LaLiga matches this season. Against Villarreal, Espanyol & Getafe.
They took 7 points from those games in the end, but it was a matter of time until they couldn't turn a game around.
Not good enough for a team with title ambitions.
— Sam Leveridge (@samleveridge) September 25, 2021
Cholo has to prepare his team for a couple of tricky fixtures. They go to Italy on Tuesday evening to take on Milan at San Siro in the Champions League before hosting Barcelona at the Wanda Metropolitano. The Catalan club are in crisis, but never an easy prospect. Alaves travel to Athletic Bilbao next.
⏱ 90'+ 4' | Alavés 1⃣-0️⃣ Atleti
Final del partido en Mendizorroza. pic.twitter.com/Wz0AI0fE9h
— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) September 25, 2021
“These are moments, we always say that there are bad moments during the season,” Simeone said post-match in comments carried by Marca. “Possibly we are going through one of those difficult moments. As coaches, we have to transmit to the team what we want. I fully trust my team. The responsibility is absolutely mine for not helping the team to show what they need.
“I don’t think it’s because of the system,” he continued. “It could be about concentration. It doesn’t matter whether it’s five or four at the back, their chances appeared when the team was open. The goal came through a lack of concentration. When you concede from a set piece it’s because there’s a weakness there. We’ll work to improve on that because we’ve already conceded two goals from set pieces and they influence the game a lot.”
